Stevens Trial Update

Yesterday, the federal judge presiding over Senator Ted Stevens trial refused to grant a defense motion to dismiss the case, but he nonetheless dealt a huge blow to the prosecution and the case. The judge ordered to exclude key evidence from the case, discussed below:

Judge Sullivan is throwing out a portion of the business records from Veco Corp., whose former CEO, Bill Allen, allegedly spent $188,000 renovating Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska. Two former Veco employees, Rocky Williams and Dave Anderson, are on the company's records as having spent significant time working on Stevens' home in late 2000 and early 2001.

But prosecutors never presented testimony from Williams, who was suppose to be the foreman on the home project, and instead shepherded him out of Washington right before the trial started, all without informing Stevens' attorneys.

And Anderson told the grand jury that he was in Portland, Ore., not Alaska, in late 2000, when Veco's records have him as working on Stevens' home. Prosecutors knew that Anderson had told the grand jury that and did not tell the defense team.

So Judge Sullivan excluded the portion of Veco's records that reference Anderson and Williams' work on Stevens' home, and he will instruct the jury that the government knowingly used false evidence in its case.

Perhaps more importantly, the judge has barred the jury from considering evidence of the charge that Senator Stevens traded in his old jalopy to an oil executive in exchange for a new Land Rover for his daughter. This is a huge hit for the case, as the car-switching charge may have been the case's most incendiary count. The judge made his move after the prosecution failed to disclose to the defense the check Bill Allen used to buy the Land Rover in the first place in the car transaction.

While I am a pretty lousy lawyer and did not distinguish myself in law school, this case is clearly on life-support. The chances of getting a conviction are dwindling. I also did okay in evidence, and although I have never tried a case before, even I would know not to withhold a key piece of evidence from the other side like that. It is absolutely incredible that seasoned federal prosecutors would make a mistake like that. It makes no sense, especially when you consider that this is probably one of the most important and high-profile cases that these prosecutors have ever or will ever try in their careers. One would assume, therefore, that they would take this entire case as a matter of critical importance not just to do what's right, but also important to their own careers.

A full acquittal for Sen. Stevens is looking more and more likely, and such a finding will almost certainly extinguish any Democratic hopes for winning 60 Senate seats next month. As I said, it may also save Don Young in his House race. These would be awful results for Democrats, even if they do great on election night.

I have less doubt now that the Justice Department has either influenced its prosecutors to spike this case, or it got orders from up higher. Either way, it would feed into the picture of this DOJ as the most nakedly political in history. One can question my bias, as well as my legal skills, but there is no question that top-notch prosecutors do not make repeated errors and miscues of the magnitude seen in this trial.